RUSHVILLE - When Fairfield Union senior Lucas Thompson began his high school basketball career, the thought of scoring 1,000 points wasn’t even on his radar.

As a freshman, he was just hoping to get playing time on the jayvee team. He not only did that, but was eventually moved up to the varsity. He quickly proved his worth by hitting six 3-pointers in a game his freshman season against Teays Valley, which tied a school record.

“Not a lot of players get to score 1,000 points in their careers,” Thompson said. “You have to be surrounded by the right teammates and you have to have the right coaching staff. When we were in eighth grade going into our freshman year we weren’t sure who our coach was going to be, but we were blessed to get the coaching staff that we got because they have always supported us and understand what it takes. It definitely means a lot to score 1,000 points.”

Reaching such a milestone didn’t come without hard work for Thompson, who joins fellow senior Colin Woodside, who reached the 1,000-point plateau as a junior.

“Anytime a player reaches a milestone like that it is really a testament to the process,” Fairfield Union coach Alex Eversole said. Coming to summer weightlifting, conditioning, the skill of showing up every day with the attitude of willing to work is something that is way undervalued. I think that is something Lucas has done. He comes in every day, worked his tail off and reaped the benefits of it.”

Thompson was a littler heavier and basically only shot 3-pointers early in his career, but his ability to score and make shots was the reason Eversole moved him up to the varsity level as a freshman. The fact that he made six 3s in one game proved to Thompson that he belonged at the varsity level, but to take his game to the next level, he knew he had to lose weight and be more than just a 3-point shooter.

In between his sophomore and junior year, he dedicated himself to working out every day with the thought in mind of becoming a complete player. The work paid off. He dropped 20 pounds and it allowed him to take the ball to the basketball, which made him even more dangerous.

“I had a huge transformation, and I’m not going to lie, it sucked doing all the workouts every day, but my dad kept telling me that If I stayed with it, I would be rewarded,” Thompson said.

With Woodside in foul trouble, Thompson scored a career-high 30 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had three assists to help the Falcons defeat Chillicothe in a district semifinal game a year ago.

“We always thought Lucas had the ability to score and make shots,” Eversole said. “He was able to add a new piece to his game because he put in the work, became leaner, stronger and quicker. He deserves a ton of credit because he was willing to put the work in to make himself a more complete player.”

The one thing Thompson didn’t change was his shot, which is not your traditional-looking shot. He shot the ball with two hands, and even though it looks a little awkward and people are skeptical, it goes in.

“Ever since I was little I’ve always used both hands,” Thompson said. I’ve always been an upper body shooter. I don’t use my legs as much as I should, but it works for me. Everywhere I go people say something about my shot and even college coaches say they have never seen a shot like it.”

Eversole said the coaches tried to tweak Thompson’s shot a little, just to help him be more consistent, but for the most part, they left him alone because ball kept going in.

“We tried to tweak certain things, but I believe once you get to high school you have shot enough a certain way that to really overhaul a shot I feel is doing a kid more harm than good,” Eversole said. “When we got him, we didn’t want to dismantle him, even though he didn’t have a traditional type shot, he could make shots and that’s all that mattered.”